IGN is reporting that “Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning Part One” officially clocks in at 156 minutes. And that’s the final cut.
Back in February, I posted a test-screening reaction for ‘Dead Reckoning’ which was said to be 185 minutes. Another screening occurred the following month, also to positive reactions, with the same runtime.
Then we had Bob Bakish, president of Paramount, confessing that he wasn’t down with the 185 minute cut of the film: “It’s still too long, they’ve got to cut it. But the movie is insane. It’s like a complete thrill ride. And Tom, he’s very good.”
In late April, it test-screened again with a slightly shorter version, clocking in at 2 hours 45 minutes. It seems as though, when all is said and done, they’ve trimmed down around 30 minutes of the film.
The $290 million ‘Dead Reckoning’ started shooting in Italy on February 2020, but it had to stop and start production seven different times since then. Notice the location, Italy, that was the epicentre of COVID during the early months of the pandemic.
The first chapter, being released this summer, ends on a cliff-hanger. The plan is to have both films serve as a sendoff for Cruise’s Ethan Hunt character. Production on ‘Part Two’ kicked off a few months ago.
‘Part One’ will be released on July 12, 2023. ‘Part 2’ gets released on June 28, 2024.